The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-05-17
LAFAYETTE'S GRAVE.
An Americans visit TO the Noted
Frenchman's Tomb.

Frenchman's Tomb.
A Paris correspondent of The Bg6dlo
Courier writes; Having, after much
questioning, ascertained, and that too
of an American resident, that Lafay-
cites tomb is in the ancient cemetery
of Picpus, one of the fourteen come-
terics within the walls of Paris, | was
not much better of, for | had not
driven far with the cocher, whose vehi-
Gle | had taken by the hour, before !
saw that he had no idea where the
place was. And no wonder; ANY,
thing more unlike the entrance to a
cemetery than Rue de Picpus 50, which
after much blind driving we drew up
before, just after passing the Place de
Ia Nation, could not be conceived 1t
looked like the ordinary entrance to the
ordinary French house, with the walls
a trille higher perhaps Our ring at
the great yellow-white door was an
swered by the concierge, the usual lit
tie old lady in the usual fussy cheap
lace cap. The site, which was origin
ally that of an old St. Augustine mon
astcry, is now occupied by the Convent
OF the Sacre CGur, whose high build
ings surround the cemetery on three
sides
The convent is very fashionable
school, said the concierge. MANY
pretty American girls are educated
here" She led us down long, shady
path, past flourishing kitchen garden,
where the luscious red-ripe tomatoes
looked as though they were longing to
be served with their proper accom-
paniment, mayonnase sauce, through
three different doors or gates, making
four in all through which we passed,
into the quaint old cemetery. 1t is a
little oblong plot not larger than the
ordinary city building lot, and the af-
ternoon sun was beating down so fierce
ly on its gravel walks that | was
obliged, having left my parasol in tho
carriage, to make my stay brief
All the French cemeteries are lacking
in taste, but this one, without blade
of green grass to relieve its time worn
grayness, is the most austere spot in
all Paris. The burial lot of the La
fayettes is at the lower end in n corner
surrounded on two sides by brick
wall and on the other by an iron chain.
The inclosure contains six or eight
tombs, with the slabs lying Hat upon
them. In the foreground, connected
by a stone cross, are those of Lafayette
and that faithful wife, the granddaugh-
ter of the duke of Noailles, who endur-
ed imprisonment for his sake, and who,
while he was five years captive at
Olmutz, wrote imploring letters to
George Washington urging him to use
his influence to have her husband liber-
ated | copied into my notebook the
inscription on the slab over Lafayette's
tomb, but it is so simple that would be
superlluous TO repeat it here. 1t mere
ly gives the date of his birth, and be-
meath the motto, "Requiescatin pace. ="
Two or three of the ugly bead wreaths
which one sees in all the French ceme-
teries lay upon the tomb, and | was
sorry indeed that | had not few
fresh flowers TO lay in place of thes
upon the grave of patriot who, in
stead of resting in the Pantheon, seems
so utterly forgotten in France Inter-
ments are now prohibited in Picpus
cemetery, which contains the tombs of
some of the most aristocratic families
OF France, such as the Montmorencys,
the Grammonts, and the Noailles. Next
to the Lafeyettes lie the Remusats, but
l was more interested in peeping
through an iron barred door close by
the Lafayette slabs, where in small
Enclosure, the green grass is growing
over the headless trunks of some 1900
illustrious victims, guillotined at the
Barriere du Trone during the reign of
terror and thrown together in this
common grave, called Cemetere Ges
Guillotines.